A cardiovascular disease, at a precritical or even the earliest-phase level, is found with its particular symptoms characterized by a patient's functional and organic changes. Nowadays, the field of health science increasingly requires establishment of health condition's evaluation in the cardiovascular system and sufficient understanding of the correlations between particularly influential biological, psychological and social factors, using a marker for recognizing a sign thereof. Accordingly, simple noninvasive health evaluation method should be preferably introduced to carry out large-scale investigations of cardiovascular diseases. In response thereto, the inventors have focused on two markers used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases: vascular endothelial function and vascular elasticity, and finally proposed a finger arterial elasticity evaluation method as a new simple health evaluation index, based on plethysmogram application technique.
A conventional technology for evaluating the degree of arterial sclerosis is disclosed in e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-236730 (Patent Document 1) as an invention of an arteriosclerosis evaluation apparatus for calculating an arteriosclerosis index as the degree of arterial sclerosis. The arteriosclerosis evaluation apparatus comprises pulse wave velocity information determining means for determining pulse wave velocity information related to the velocity of a pulse wave propagating in an artery of a living organism in accordance with a pulse wave signal detected from the living organism, blood pressure value determining means for determining a blood pressure value of the living organism in accordance with a cuff pulse wave signal from a cuff wound around said living organism and arteriosclerosis index calculating means for calculating an arteriosclerosis index as the degree of arterial sclerosis of said living organism from said pulse wave velocity information and said blood pressure value.
[Patent Document 1]                Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-236730        